pick
/pɪk/
noun
Meaning
A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
A choice; ability to choose.
That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
A screen.
An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
An interception.
A good defensive play by an infielder.
A pickoff.
A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.
"so many picks to an inch"
verb
Meaning
To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
"Don't pick at that scab."
To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.
"It's time to pick the tomatoes."
To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
"She picked flowers in the meadow."
To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
"to pick rags"
To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
"to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket"
To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
"I'll pick the one with the nicest name."
To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.
To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.
"He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled."
To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
"He picked a tune on his banjo."
To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
"I gingerly picked my way between the thorny shrubs."
To steal; to pilfer.
To throw; to pitch.
To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
"to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc."
To screen.